Good morning to everyone! I hope this finds everyone well today. I guess it's time for my monthly update today, so here we go.
Perhaps the title of this morning's blog is leaving a few of you in suspense, wondering what, exactly, the "end of the line" means. Before I begin I would like to underscore the significance of the question mark at the end of the title, meaning that nothing in this life is a sure thing, not even this.
Lately, I have been doing some serious 'soul searching', and that brought to mind the old cliche, "life is short. Do what you love, and love what you do." Do you remember that life reminded Forest Gump of box of chocolates? Well, I have a slightly different view on the resemblance of life. I think of life as a card game. Moreover, a poker game. When you are born, life deals you a hand of either five or seven cards, depending on which country you born in to. (Just kidding on that last remark) Those five or seven cards represent what you are born into. Some people, naturally, are dealt a better hand than someone else at the table. They may have a slight advantage over you at that time, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to win, you see. Because, throughout life you are able to discard some of your not so favorable cards for a chance to dip back into the deck to replace those discarded cards. This is a personal decision, and, as in life, must not be taken lightly. This ritual of discarding cards and reaching back into the deck to take a chance at receiving a better hand, represents the decisions in life we must make, and decide if the new cards we will take to replace our originals, will, in fact be better.
Even as I sit here, I can see that the suspense in the room is so thick, you could cut it with a knife. So, enough of my usual ramblings and on to my point.
Recently, I have locked horns with a few people in the organization that I work for. Added to that, the new rules and regulations that will soon be enacted from our federal government, making my job much more difficult and less enjoyable, I come back to point of my soul searching, and am reminded of the original cards I had been dealt. It wasn't a bad hand, but perhaps, I thought, I could "gamble" and make it better with some of the cards I discarded. Granted, I haven't discarded all of my cards, and still have a chance to 'take the pot,' but I think back and say, "Man, I shouldn't have discarded that King of Clubs for that Four of Diamonds." Perhaps I was looking for that Ace. I don't know, and frankly, it doesn't really matter now.
So, after all of that dribbly drab, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I will be seeking a career change. Will I go back to college to become a mortician? Will I be a local delivery man and be home every night so I can finally have a personal life, and maybe, just maybe, settle down and get married? Or will I move back to Price, and work down there in some capacity? The latter seems very unlikely. All I know, is that I'm seeing all of my classmates already settled down with careers and some of them with children that are four or five years old already, and I am too old for a job now. I need a career. I haven't discarded all of my cards yet, I'm still in the game, my chips are still plentiful, and I may just have an ace in the hole somewhere.
That's my thoughts for today. As always, thanks to all of my loyal readers, and apologies all around for not sticking to the trucking life theme of this blog. I promise that if I really do come off the road, I will have a final educational trucking themed blog for you before I change the theme to just a personal blog.
Have a wonderful Sunday, and if I don't post before Thanksgiving, God bless you and your family, and please, when you sit down at the table on the 25th, remember, Thanksgiving isn't about how much food you can eat, or about betting on how soon Grandpa loosens his belt at the table. Please ponder on the things that have been given to you by our Creator. Hug your family members when you go visit, and let them know that they are special.
Before I leave you today, I would like to share a quote from one of my hero's Fred Rogers:
"If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person. You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are." --Fred Rogers
And finally, the quote that I found most striking and appropriate for today:
"Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else." --Fred Rogers
